India/Nepal Report #16 (really #17): Wed, Nov. 14, 2012 at 3:30 p.m. from Kathmandu, Nepal
Dear Family and Friends:
We are here safe in Kathmandu in an ADRA/Conference Office Guest Room with WiFi but right now our Yahoo server is doing maintenance on their accounts and we cannot get out for a while they say. I’ll get this ready for when we can. We might send it via our Compuserve account that still works. We just have to remember which one saves our copy.
The flight from Calcutta to Kathmandu was only an hour and a half but the Air India plane was very spacious and they served a hot (in two ways) meal on the way. The seats in First Class were not occupied and the plane was without too many people. Perhaps people felt they didn’t need first class when economy class was as comfortable as it was--a treat for us.
At the airport in Calcutta we had to wait for two and a half hours before being allowed into the area where we could go through Security. We came early just in case the Diwali Hindu holiday would hold up traffic and make us late. Security was the usual Calcutta hassle. The High Priest robes are the biggest problem. We take in our carry on the items that would be the most difficult to replace if lost—the crown and breastplate. They always draw attention when going through X-ray. This time we had a copy of my book along with them so we could show the searcher what they were in the bigger picture. That helped but it didn’t keep them from totally disturbing the neatly packed case. We had to repack almost from scratch with people waiting behind us to retrieve their things from the belt.
At the Kathmandu airport we got our Nepal visas ($50 for two weeks for the two of us) and fortunately we had the necessary photos to accompany. The trouble was that we had not cut them apart beforehand and so the agents had to find scissors to do that for us. They cheerfully complied and we still have the second copy.
The Nepali people are very friendly toward us and are very respectful, from our experience. We did not have the usual struggle with people insisting on carrying our baggage. The one problem was that the man we were expecting to see (Conference President Chuck Jenson) was not there. He is in Hosur, Tamil Nadu, India, attending the Division Year End Meetings. He sent his Nepali treasurer who saw me looking and held up a paper with “Seventh-day Adventist” on it. With smiles of recognition we were soon on our way in the adequate van with our luggage to our “new home” for two weeks before heading to our Gentry domicile and the comforts we are used to. The treasurer speaks good English and will translate for us the first week. Then he moves on to another place seven hours from Kathmandu where an American couple working with Bob Robinson (she is Bob’s sister) will hold a series also. They are lay people (Mr. and Mrs. Ron Oliver from Battleground, Washington) who have been in Nepal on vacation as tourists before and now will be sharing the message. They were supposed to come in at 10 p.m. last night, but we did not hear anything. Today they showed up with Bob Robinson (Division Evangelism Coordinator) and we learned they had stayed in a hotel instead. So we have the whole building to ourselves right now except for the friendly dog inherited by Chuck Jenson. We let the dog in and out but he is no bother otherwise. We don’t let him in our room where food smells would spark intense interest and probably strategic probing.
Our guest room here is very comfortable with a western flush toilet that works well and a warm shower also, contained in such a way that it does not flood the whole bathroom area with water, as in India. In the kitchen downstairs (we are on second floor) they have a 5 gal jug mounted for drinking water and we are free to use that. We will pay them something for our stay here. When Mrs. Jenson is back she will probably cook for us the one hot meal a day but we won’t really need that since we can buy vegetables at the market and did so today. (We got tomatoes but they are not as good as we had in Mizoram before we left there). We also bought some crackers, corn flakes, very good apples, and even a can of garbanzos under the name of chic peas. We will try them for our second meal today along with potatoes in the kitchen here that are sprouting and needing to be used and later replaced. They have a propane gas stove and a microwave oven we used to heat our initial drinking water for the day as at home. We can use their pans to cook our food in and wash them in a bona fide kitchen sink.
We have not noticed any mold here either. The weather is much cooler than in Mizoram (Bud, you were right!) and we are glad that we brought sweaters and jackets in spite of tight space when packing. When the sun shines forth, outside is very nice and comfortable, but the chill remains in the room. The “long johns” we brought are also welcome.
The suggestion was that we change our U.S. $ for Nepali Rupees at the airport, but we failed to do that and now believe it was Divine guidance. We met a nice young couple here, Jonathan and Karen Lovitt who are with Frontier Missions and had been in Darjeeling, West Bengal for seven years until a couple of weeks ago when the India government in Delhi cancelled their ten year visa and ordered them to leave the country because they were preaching (in our church) the message. It was considered proselytizing and the Hindu government is trying to protect all Hindus from that. We wonder how long it will be before they get around to our names. It is good that we keep a low profile and so far have been “under their radar” with our meetings.
Jonathan and Karen had to move out with all their things and have come to Nepal until they fly home to USA next Monday. They have sold most of it now and had lots of Rupees they needed to convert into US $. We are happy that we can exchange with them and save them and us the usual transfer fees through the bank. (about $10 each). We will leave most of that with the Conference here to cover expenses of the meetings and also our personal room here with whatever food they prepare for us. We will still buy our own food for breakfast at the market and use up the rest of what we brought from home and from Mizoram. We are hoping to pack the one smaller suitcase we have left in one of the larger ones because we fly British Airlines from Mumbai to London and they do not recognize American Airlines (they are partners) allowing us four check-on suitcases. They will try to make a hefty charge on top of what we have already paid for the tickets and we hope to defeat that plot. Using up all the food or giving it away will be a big step in that direction.
Since Nepal is still Hindu in majority, they observe Diwali here too. That meant that our meetings have been postponed until Friday to begin. Pastor says that we can make up some of the topics by doing three sermons on Sabbath morning and afternoon. The people are able to attend then. We will not have all the preliminaries that are usual in India with endless singing etc. Our meetings will be held each day from noon until 2 p.m. rather than in the evening as usual. The work patterns here and the distance the people will have to come without the good transportation available in India and elsewhere, dictates those hours. We are happy to go along with it. We should get more sleep that way. Also the pastor will take us to see a few things each day (his planning) and we will be able to fulfill our tourist visa status.
Pastor (Umesh Kumar Pokharel) came today and we had a great visit getting it all planned out for the meetings. As it turns out we have many friends in common. Dan and Marilyn Cotton from Quiet hour sponsored him to Spicer College along with our “Mizo son” Biaka. They are close friends. We pastored the Portsmouth, Ohio church where Marilyn Cotton has relatives. He knew Professor Liske (now dead) that Mary Alice studied under at Andrews when working for her M.A. degree. Pastor had studied under him at Spicer College. Also Ron Watts. Everywhere we go it does not take long to find mutual acquaintances or friends. Now he is also on our list.
When the treasurer has to move on to the other series, Pastor Umesh will do the translating for us here to complete our series. He seems to understand me well and also Mary Alice in case we do health talks here.
Tomorrow at 10 a.m. Pastor plans to take us to visit his Hindu sister who will be going through the rites of Diwali. She will feed him (and maybe us) and we will see firsthand and photograph some of the festival. We were not able to buy bread here yet because the bakeries are closed for the holiday. Some shops are still open but many are closed. Occasionally we hear firecrackers going off as people have a burst of celebration. It reminds us of our July 4 (when it is not too dry for fireworks).
Ten percent of the people of Nepal are Buddhist. We plan to visit one of their temples. Buddha was a contemporary of Daniel the Prophet. He was an Indian Prince but left his home and family including children to seek isolation for meditation. He claimed to find enlightenment that way and it is what his followers seek. Their priests have shaved heads and wear distinctive robes. Women also may be like nuns and have similar shaved heads so it is often difficult to know which is which.
While waiting for our flight at the Calcutta airport we met a young man from Arkansas (about 60 miles north of Memphis) who has lived in France for more than ten years and is now traveling around India and Nepal. He looked a bit shaggy. (Almost as bad as me. I planned to get a haircut in Aizawl on Friday, but Biaka had a Hindu man walk into his office that afternoon and wanted to know what the Bible teaches. Of course, Biaka spent most of the afternoon with him and came late for us, so we ran out of time before Sabbath and I skipped the haircut. At least we did get our ticket change in flying from Aizawl to Calcutta cared for so we could fly on Sunday rather than Monday). This young man from Arkansas is trekking in the Himalayas. His luggage was just a backpack. He has been around British and South African friends so long now that his accent is very unusual—a blend of various English plus French. While standing in line for getting Nepal visas at Kathmandu airport we three were with another lady also from Arkansas now living in Switzerland. How often would you find 4 “Arkies” standing at the same place in Nepal at the same time? They were both into Eastern Meditation and we differed very much in that. He shared with us that following the election in USA that many of the states were rebelling. In a bookstore at the Calcutta airport I saw an India version of Time magazine with the front cover headline about the UnUnited States of America. We’ll hear more about that shortly at home.
At our late mid-day meal (I’m writing now at nearly 7 p.m because of interruptions) we had boiled potatoes topped by garbanzos with a little soymilk powder sprinkled on top. It was a real treat reminiscent of home.
Just now Mary Alice is ironing on a real ironing board. Earlier she did the laundry by hand and I strung our rope line on top of the roof in the sunlight. The clothes dried very nicely up there and they are safe from theft. While doing that I heard what sounded like a dog laughing. It may have been some kind of distress call, but to me it sounded like he had just heard a very funny joke and was responding with a hearty laugh. We will be spoiled being here as compared to our usual problems on the mission trips. Earlier the power went off and she could not iron then. We have to fit into its schedule rather than ours. We trust we will have power at the right time for our meetings, but Satan is probably already working on that disruption possibility. We may be able to use a generator, but it will add costs.
You have heard more than enough for now. I’ll close and try to get this typically long report off to you. By the way the time here is 11 ¾ hours ahead of CST! Tomorrow the Pastor plans to bring us a sim card that will work here. We’ll let you know the number when we get it, in case of emergencies.
With love,
Glenn and Mary Alice (Dad and Mom, Grandpa and Grandma)